MICKEY KAUS: If Krugman’s so worried about pandemics, why isn’t he worried about open borders?

AT AMAZON, savings and deals in Lawn, Patio & Garden.

Plus, shop Amazon Outlet Deals.

SO YESTERDAY I WAS RECOMMENDING THE MR. CLEAN MAGIC ERASER TO GROVER NORQUIST ON TWITTER, to much support from other Magic Eraser fans. It really works! And while I’m at it, another plug for Barkeeper’s Friend.

Instapundit: Home of hypermasculine cleaning tips and recipes since 2001!

THE INSTA-WIFE AND INSTA-DAUGHTER READ SURI ROSEN’S PLAYING WITH MATCHES, and liked it. Now here’s a review.

SULTAN KNISH: Suppose Islam Had a Holocaust and No One Noticed.

LIBERTY ISLAND’S FIRST NOVEL, Roy Griffis’ The Big Bang, is out. It’s kinda like Red Dawn, but with Islamists.

YEAH, I’M NOT SURE I AGREE: Pew: Americans Say Obama is a “Good Man” Who is “Incompetent.”

Meanwhile, check out Truesbury.

UPDATE: How Ronald Reagan Described the Economy in His 7th-Year State of the Union; Comparing the rhetoric of two presidents who inherited economic messes reminds us of the wide gap between their respective recoveries. Well, yeah. Reagan had a recovery.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN: Moog Music Recreates a Trio of Its Legendary Modular Synths. “These aren’t just any keyboards, mind you, but three Cadillacs of bleep-bloop, the System 35, System 55, and Model 15 first developed in the 1970s. Moog Music will be recreating these storied synths using the original designs and making them available on a very limited basis—with prices to match.”

AT AMAZON, Winter Deals on Cleaning Gear and Supplies.

Plus, Revamp Your Home Interior.

IT’S COME TO THIS: 80% Of Americans Support Mandatory Labels On Foods Containing DNA. Also, did you know that pregnant women can pass DNA on to their children before birth?

Of course, there’s always this classic: Within one hour at a local grocery store, we had over a page full of signatures on our petition to end women’s suffrage.

IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO? Coffee may be able to lengthen your life and lower your risk of depression.

STEPHEN L. CARTER: Sarah Brightman’s Space Travel Is Good for Humanity.

STUCK BACK IN THE 20TH CENTURY: Alabama Legislators Say You Must Be A Salaried Employee Of Old School Media To Get Approved For Press Credentials.

VIDEO: Watch What Happens When a Firefighter Straps a GoPro to His Helmet.

“IS THE POPE CATHOLIC?” “I’M THINKING, I’M THINKING . . .” Pope: Don’t Breed Like Rabbits.

KYLE SMITH ON CURING SEXISM IN THE WORKPLACE: It’s Time For Companies To Fire Their Human Resource Departments. “93 percent of the HR staffers deciding whether to call in someone for an interview were female. It turns out that HR women (who also tend to be young and single and hence still in the dating market for men) are eager to meet with handsome men. But they’re jealous of beautiful women. So your business is losing out on talented people (and wasting time with untalented ones) based on their looks.”

Yeah, it’s not new, but the problem hasn’t gone away.

WHAT A SOCIETY IN DECLINE LOOKS LIKE: Japanese go off sex amid loss of male confidence. “Half of Japanese, and 45 per cent of married people, admitted that they had not had sex in the previous month, in findings that have alarming implications for a country facing a longterm demographic crisis. The survey, by the Japan Family Planning Association, attests to the growing number of ‘herbivorous males,’ men who disdain traditional pursuits, such as fast cars, successful careers and girlfriends, in a loss of masculine confidence that mirrors the stagnation of the Japanese economy.”

That could never happen here. Or could it?

THE NEW REPUBLIC HAS INSPIRED A NEW STYLE OF BOOK REVIEW, AND SONNY BUNCH IS JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON: I Haven’t Read Dennis C. Jett’s New Book, But It Looks Like Garbage.

ASHE SCHOW: N.D. may become second state to allow students to hire attorneys.

The U.S. Constitution’s Sixth Amendment guarantees, among other things, the right to counsel in criminal proceedings. Colleges and universities have thus far skirted this right in campus sexual assault cases by stating the hearings are disciplinary — not criminal — in nature.

But because the information used in those hearings can be turned over to police to be used in criminal proceedings, allowing students involved in the hearing — the accusers and the accused — to have legal representation is just common sense.

And yet, it’s not so common. Only one state — North Carolina — allows students at public universities to acquire legal representation in campus courts for charges of harassment, rape and theft.

A similar bill in North Dakota could be the beginning of a trend of states guaranteeing their students are allowed legal representation during such hearings.

As it should be. And the university should have to pay for students who can’t afford it. It’s only fair.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: ObamaCare’s Slow Death? “The results are now clear. The Affordable Care Act has done nothing to unravel the past mistakes that in large measure were (and still are) attributable to excessive regulation and transfer payments. To give but one example, the voluntary coverage supplied by employer plans has dipped sharply from about 60 percent in 1980 to 50 percent in 2010, which on an employment base of 150 million workers translates into a 15 million increase in the number of uninsured persons in the United States. It would be very difficult indeed to attribute this decline in health care coverage to some hidden form of market failure.”

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: France, The Jews, and “Bad Luck.”

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 621.

MIDDLE CLASS TAX HIKE: You know that “tax-free” 529 college plan? Obama wants to tax it. “By definition, these accounts are really only used by middle class families. Poorer households don’t have the extra income to save (and even if they have a little, there are much higher priorities like retirement or saving for a home). Very wealthy families might use 529 plans, but it’s far more likely that they have complex trust arrangements set up for their children. . . . Note that this is right before they also announce the repeal of Coverdell Education Savings Accounts (Coverdell ESAs), another similar move against the same middle class savings targets.”

SO VANDERBILT LAW PROFESSOR CAROL SWAIN WROTE AN OPED IN THE NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN ABOUT ISLAM and a Muslim student group at Vanderbilt organized a protest against “hate speech.”

Then ex-Saturday Night Live star Victoria Jackson showed up and led a counterprotest. Here’s how the Vanderbilt Administration responded:

Dean of Students Mark Bandas emailed the student body to say that that Muslim students had told him they have “felt welcome and safe at Vanderbilt until you read this piece.” He assured them that the school’s “top priority” has not changed: “Ensuring that this campus is welcoming to, and supportive of, all of our students.”

At the same time, Bandas told students to use their freedom of expression to challenge “polarizing speech” and “engage in dialogue with … those with whom you disagree.”

According to Yamin, the student organizer and publicity chair for the Muslim Student Association, Bandas even volunteered to provide a sound system and setup crew for her protest.

But Yamin only met the dean halfway in his call to engage with her critics. . . .

The overall tone of the protest, though passionate, did not attack Swain personally.

Yamin herself acknowledged after the event that Swain “has substance and that she is an educated woman” and has “a lot of qualifications to be teaching at Vanderbilt.”

But Swain’s speech must be curtailed, Yamin said: “What I’m really trying to show her is that she can’t continue to say these kinds of things on a campus that’s so liberal and diverse and tolerant.”

Well, actually, that’s what it means to have a campus that’s liberal, diverse and tolerant. You need to continue your education, Yamin. That said, this has been better handled than many campus speech fights lately.

And here’s a roundup from Scott Jaschik at Inside Higher Ed.